On a regular basis, we will feature a member contractor with a link to the complete article at Examiner.com (Detroit Small Business). Please check below for the latest and view the previous featured contractors, too!
January 2015 – Accu-Temp Heating & Air Conditioning
Accu-Temp's Tim McFarland and Andy Brodie spent a good portion of their day
installing a free furnace in an elderly couple's Redford home.
Bob Hutchison is a smart businessperson. He gives his heating & cooling customers top quality service and products as one of Livingston County's most recognizable business: Accu-Temp Heating & Air Conditioning of Howell. Bob also knows the value of well-trained service technicians and installers. He regularly sends his workers to vocational training seminars offered by the Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association, of which Accu-Temp is a member in good standing.
And speaking of the Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association, this group annually sponsors a special day in December called "Al Keats Day - Project Senior Heat." The Association sends out volunteer HVAC contractor members to over 50 homes of Detroit-area senior citizens to perform furnace inspections, cleaning, and repair - for free. In some cases, the homeowners have needed complete furnace replacement. The Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association has been doing this free community service for 28 years.
Accu-Temp was one of the volunteer members who found a furnace in the home of an elderly Redford couple that had a cracked heat exchanger - a dangerous condition that often leads to the creation of deadly carbon monoxide gas. The repair on the older furnace would have almost have been as costly as a replacement so Bob recommended a new furnace. And the Association was happy to provide it, thanks to the generosity of Williams Distributing, an Association member and a Michigan HVAC supplier. Accu-Temp donated their labor free of charge and a replacement appointment was set.
On a snowy morning in early January, Accu-Temp installers Tim McFarland and Andy Brodie began their 5-6 hour task of removing the old furnace and installing the new high-efficiency Goodman model and an Aprilaire Media Air Cleaner (donated by Accu-Temp). The team also had to do some pre-job plenum and ductwork creation in order to make the new furnace fit.
Everything went off without a hitch and the elderly homeowners were very happy with their new heating system. As part of the service and for all Al Keats' senior homeowners, a carbon monoxide detector was installed, free of charge. The detectors were donated by Johnstone Supply, also a member of the Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association
After Tim and Andy left, the homeowner's daughter, who is also their caretaker, sent a letter to the Support Coordinator of the Senior Alliance of Wayne, who recommended the Redford couple to the Association for the furnace inspection. In the letter, the daughter said, "The gentlemen who installed the furnace were kind, caring and considerate." She added that it "is a pleasure to know that a professional group such as yours is so very kind and giving."
Accu-Temp showed how much its owner and employees care as did the Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association. Isn't it time you learned more about each?
Accu-Temp: www.fixyourfurnace.com
For more information on the Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association and it’s ‘Al Keats’ project, visit www.semiacca.org. If you are or know a senior citizen homeowner who needs a free furnace inspection, contact your county’s Area Agency on Aging.
September 2015 -- Efficient Energy Enterprises
New furnace, water heater, and ductwork installed by Efficient Energy Enterprises in Josephine Anderson’s Northville home.
Living through cold winters with the aid of unsafe space heaters and a stove was what 75-year-old Josephine Anderson faced the past two winters. The Northville resident had a 49-year-old unreliable furnace and was afraid of calling a contractor to check it out.
“I was afraid they would tag it and shut it off – and I would have to pay to fix it,” she said. “I didn’t have the money.”
So she kept relying on space heaters, which overloaded her circuit breakers and caused electrical problems as well. Finally, a neighbor took action and started making telephone calls. She wanted to find a contractor who might sympathize with Josephine’s plight. The contractor was found – Efficient Energy Enterprises of New Hudson.
Efficient co-owner Scot Karevich said, “Josephine’s neighbor, Pat, knew of her situation. Pat tried calling many others before us, and for months, with no return phone calls. We service a lot of the homes in the neighborhood, so Pat was told by a few neighbors to contact us.”
Karevich contacted the Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association, who sponsor annual free furnace inspections for senior citizen homeowners, and discovered that one of their supplier members, Williams Distributing, had an extra furnace they committed to donate to the group’s annual ‘Al Keats Day – Project Heat’ program to help senior homeowners.
Karevich and his crew arranged to install the furnace and also replaced her water heater donated from local HVAC supplier Behler-Young, also a supplier member of Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association. Karevich donated the labor to install the equipment. “When we heard her story, we knew it was the right thing to do,” he said.
The problem was, Efficient Energy picked a day to make the installation and it turned out to be one of the hottest days of the summer. “I felt bad for them because it was so hot and I had no air conditioning,” Josephine said. “And they had waited for a day that they didn’t think would be too hot!”
The four-person crew got the work done in seven hours and now Josephine will not have a cold home to wake up in or come home from work to. “My house needs a lot of repairs but I am happy to be warm again,” she said. “Efficient Energy was a Godsend.”
For more information on the Southeast Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association and it’s ‘Al Keats’ project, visit www.semiacca.org. If you are or know a senior citizen homeowner who needs a free furnace inspection, contact your county’s Area Agency on Aging.
May 2014 -- Guardian Environmental Services, Inc.
GES Technician Aaron Olender consults with a customer.
Guardian Environmental Services, Inc. (GES) of Livonia, a heating and cooling (HVAC) mechanical contractor, is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2014. GES co-owners, John C. Philbin, a former HVAC tech and Anthony D’Ascenzo, a former plumber, saw the market for commercial HVAC mechanical services to compliment a growing plumbing services segment. GES began as a sister company to Guardian Plumbing and Heating, Inc., which started in the early 60s and is still going strong today. GES specializes in commercial HVAC, offering maintenance contracts and project management
According to Tom Barker, GES Vice President, the company’s focus and consistency is the same today as it was 30 years ago. “Our biggest accomplishment is the fact that we have been successful for 30 years with the same leadership,” he said. “We have been successful during the ups and downs of our local economy.”
GES focuses on several “critical” environmental needs of its commercial customers, including those who operate health care operations and data centers. One of their Detroit-area customers who depend on GES to maintain its critical data center as well as mechanical systems throughout its facility is Raymond James, a diversified financial services company located in Southfield.
Lisa Kerr, manager of office services for Raymond James, said that GES is the only mechanical company she has known since she began with her company 19 years ago. That’s saying a lot about the value of this long-term business relationship. “Our corporate office has very high standards and GES has always met them,” Kerr said.
The GES workforce is comprise of members of Operating Engineers, Local 324, a group that is dedicated to finding good opportunities for its members which includes working at GES. “We have an apprenticeship program and currently have apprentices working for us,” said Barker. “We think the best techs are the ones we train ourselves.”
For more information on GES visit www.gesmechanicalservices.com or call 734-513-9500.
August, 2013 -- C&C Heating & Air Conditioning
C&C service technician Dave Goodman
Jim Corrion is not a person who lets the moss grow below his feet. The owner of C&C Heating & Air Conditioning in Roseville, Michigan is always looking for ways to expand his business by offering many services and features for his customers.
Corrion has been running the business since 1977, when he took over from his father who had started the business along with Corrion’s uncle in 1948. What was once a small business operating out of a home on Groesbeck Highway north of 12 Mile Road has now grown into multiple locations employing 65 workers and servicing 80,000 customers. Corrion recently purchased other heating & cooling businesses in Ann Arbor, Royal Oak and Livonia. “I like picking up new customers in different communities,” he said.
For the rest of the story visit:
http://www.examiner.com/article/metro-detroit-heating-cooling-contractor-expands-territory-services
July, 2013 -- Thornton & Grooms
Thornton & Grooms service tech Drew Barnum
You don’t stay in business for 76 years unless you are doing something right. In fact, many things right. That’s an accurate way to describe one of metro Detroit’s oldest and respected heating, cooling, and plumbing contractors – Thornton & Grooms of Farmington Hills.
Thornton & Grooms began as a plumbing company in 1937 and eventually added heating and cooling service and installation over the years. Current owners Matt & Mike Bergstrom and Dave Knight have continued the tradition of outstanding customer service and a solid team-oriented atmosphere. They have been so successful that the business has grown from $1.2 million in sales in 2004, when they purchased the company to an expected $7.5 million this year. They have got to be doing things very right...
For the rest of the story visit:
http://www.examiner.com/article/detroit-area-heating-cooling-contractor-profile-thornton-grooms
And for a YouTube video of service tech Drew Barnum visit: